At Smarthistory, we’re on a mission to open museums and cultural sites up to the world, one video at a time. We’re creating world-class resources on art and cultural objects for learners from around the globe, for free.
Smarthistory is the most-visited art history resource in the world. Our conversational videos and essays cover art and cultural objects that range from the paleolithic to the present.
Art connects us to the world; it allows us to imagine, to create, to build and to inspire, and it shouldn’t be locked up in a textbook. Smarthistory takes you inside museums and engages in conversations about how to interpret and understand the images you’re seeing.
After yesterday's... unfortunate sentiments, I was drawn to this one because it felt more heroic and empowering. This was also featured in another video I watched recently! I'm trying to remember what the context was... The man in the boat with fog around him and the ship in the background, I believe. This is an intense scene, full of danger, drama, and movement. It's amazing how a painting can convey so much! The detail of pulling down the petticoat for modesty was bittersweet. What those 19th century viewers would think today... lol. I can only imagine what Homer staging this scene with his models would've been like, but it was well worth the effort. Gorgeously done.
As I sit before my microphone, in a small, dark room, I feel like a distressed woman, lol. Thee sympathies and fears are recognizable today, for some... So are the prayers. It's a compelling image. I'm rooting for her as I root for myself. After Hurricane Ian, I found myself going from living one way, to living as I do now. It's a nice home, but I know displacement well. "That's the thing that defines her existence, time." Felt that. I often describe myself as having a detonator over my head, ticking down to my next weekly rent payment... Go figure I click this one today. I'm even wearing a pink outfit like she is. It really is strange (and a bit depressing) how much I related. 😅 As for the art, the painting itself has a unique texture to it. I'm wondering about the technique(s) used to make it look quite like this. I also do like the illumination of her figure. You're immediately drawn to her body and then can gradually take notice of the details around her, if you can convince yourself to do that. Clock's ticking.
The depiction of the dragon is more reminiscent of the unicorn, perhaps influenced by stories of horses and eye accounts or word of mouth of the rhinoceros
My dad worked for over 20 years across the street from this building. In Summer I would go into the city and sit near the one of the fountain to have lunch with him or visit an attraction like Rockefeller Center before walking towards Park Avenue to go home with him. It's a beautiful building and plaza. I wish I had gone to the Four Seasons although I was too young and it would never be the kind of place my parents would go nor could afford. I definitely could see why Rothko made those controversial Seagram Mural paintings. Its nearly an unobtainable beauty. The building has never been perfectly replicated.
Burn down museums?! God forbid. 😱 The question about how futuristic or modern this piece [by Balla] is intrigued me. My best guess was that "the future" was more implied by the movement of the woman / her dog - i.e. "we are moving toward a future time and place. We each step, time passes, and we make progress." Maybe not industrial, but progress at all the same. There may be a beautiful message belying that, the more I think about it. Whether we move by our feet, horse, or airplanes, it is humanity that creates "modernity." We are the essence of all that is "modern." I kinda love that! The woman on the scissors... I'm gonna leave that alone. 🤭 Same for Marinetti and his fruit-pelting hellion friends at the end, lol. War is the sole hygiene of the world? This isn't a cleansing summer rain - war doesn't spare the good as it sweeps away the evil ... This made for a very entertaining (and surprisingly philosophical) break.
We tell stories with the knowledge that is available to us. We understand that any story we tell is partial, incomplete, and biased. We are always interested in learning more.
Is this the place where Carl Jung and his friend Toni Wolff had the strange experience of seeing mosaics that didn’t exist? Or they did exist but were removed centuries before
Look at those fat bbs 🥰 Cupid's face... lol. So bad. I can only imagine what he wanted to use those arrows to do. This is of course lovely, but I'm most drawn to the natural aspects of the painting. I love the way the little pond(?) was portrayed, for example. The softness of the colors work for me too. A little something sweet to start the week.
This is a magnificent church. Anyone interested in churches who is visiting London might like to visit it. It is only a few minutes walk from Oxford St
God definitely has a way of setting us straight. I just got checked in today's sermon and I feel wonderfully about it. It's the most interesting mix of firm but loving correction. I wish I could do some "close, prolonged looking" at this piece, reflecting on the implications. I would've imagined the Tower of Babel looking differently to this... but in a way, it makes sense that here would be this conical shape rather than the tube-like shape I've always envisioned. I loved the powerful irony of bowing to this king of nothingness. I've done quite a bit of that throughout my life. Ready to be more selective in that regard. The detailed views of this piece are incredible... If I'm ever in Vienna, I'll be looking for it.
Hey Smart History. Great work as always. I see you put this in your "Latinx" playlist. Just a tip from someone who has been in academia his entire life... You might want to look at the emerging conversation on "Latinx" amongst linguists. Not only is it interesting in its own right, but it should give us all pause about embracing certain neologisms that pop up in culture. I suspect the art world is a little too quick to embrace such neologisms for their novelty - and perhaps also because we enjoy the idea of helping to shape culture. I will try to summarize ... - new nouns and verbs tend to stick around more easily in languages than new grammatical features. They simply cost us all less cognitive effort. So certain kinds of trending inclusive language in recent years might actually be destined to fail because it's badly "designed ". Think: instead of a new chair design, it's analogous to trying to redesign the entire Idea of a chair. Why? The X in Latinx is a novel suffix - more a grammatical feature than a new noun. It's a suffix that exists neither in Spanish nor English. It also happens to be fairly challenging to pronounce - if not well-nigh impossible to pronounce in Spanish. It is even more burdensome than the 1980s push to use "him or her" or "his/hers" "he/she.". Even those of us who embraced that, to this day still fall occasionally back on simply choosing one because, well, it's an inefficient way to speak or write. Also, we kinda just trust that our interlocutor doesn't think we are a sexist bastard, in most cases, right? Food for thought. Check out what the linguists have been saying. I know linguists can be dull, pocket-protector wearing school 'marms doing soft science, but it's one of the didciplines that art historians should have as dialogue with since both touch on culture.
also one thing that wasnt mentioned here is that from what ive read the blue dress of virgin mary was actually ultramarine, makes this painting even more beautiful
although being new to art i remember being at a jumble sale and finding a book called art history of the world, its a big book and goes through everything froma ancient egypt to modern times, when i saw this painting by simone martini i instantly read about it, its absolutley gorgeous
Stunning painting I did not know. Thanks for introducing it to me, and thanks for the brilliant analysis that consummately blends aesthetic analysis and history, showing how a visual image comments on the world. In this specific case, on war. Your analysis could not come at a better time when we see the horrors of war every day on the news.
20k was the family's original budget, FLW thought the house could be built for 30k if the family did some of the work, and yes 60k was the contractor estimate (as you noted, it's not easy to keep up with inflation).
Oh man, prototype logo and all! A true classic, lol. This portrait is stunning. My goodness. The dress got me right away. You absolutely could hear it and, even better, feel it. I agree this woman is "amazingly alive." Her skin is very smooth and soft looking. For me, this is a very sensory piece. I want to feel. Part of me hesitates to say, but I'd let Ingres do my portrait. He'd have his work cut out for him, so he could take all the liberties he'd like! 🤣 Love the outro to this one too. You guys were so precious.. (Still are, in a different way.) ❤❤
What a magnificent feat of architecture and yet still so warm and inviting. The woodworking is gorgeous and I’m really drawn to the horizontal lines throughout. But I’m perplexed by the use of cork for the bathroom flooring. Is that not a highly absorbent material? Not something one would want near a bathtub!
@@smarthistoryvideos That’s a fair point, although the cork is on the ground in this case, being stepped on regularly. But upon looking it up, I see that while cork may feel like a stiff sponge, it does not behave like one thanks to hydrophobic fat in the cells. So yet another clever design by Wright.
Crystal Bridges! ❤ Goodness, this house is beautiful... I remember clerestories from various cathedrals. I love the openness of the living room and the gloss on those tiles. Also a fan of "Usonia," radiant heating, and the way the glass walls allow nature in. Gorgeous! The hanging staircase and stream situation brought tears to my eyes! 🤯 I've gotta get back to Crystal Bridges and see this place.
Thank you for the presentation. I am curious whether Dürer is depicted standing or sitting in this pose, as I am attempting to recreate the painting in 3D for a VR museum. Could you inform me if he was standing or sitting in this self-portrait?
How does VR successfully deal with ambiguity? This painting is a response to its media-which is limited by its frame. Painting and VR are different, and VR often neglects the qualities that make painting unique and beautiful, focusing too much on painting's memetic aspects.
@@smarthistoryvideos This project isn't about replicating the artist's paintings or style. Instead, it's designed to acquaint people with the tools and techniques the artist employed in the past. For instance, the room will feature one of his printmaking machines, which will be animated to demonstrate how the process worked back then. :)
That's good to hear. To answer your question more directly, I suppose I have always assumed he was seated though there is, as noted, enough ambiguity to make standing perfectly reasonable. Given the gravitas he seems to want to convey, standing might be the stronger of the two options, though honestly, I like the third option, that given the composition, he need not be definitively seated or standing.
@@smarthistoryvideos Oh, that certainly answered my question! Thank you for the comprehensive explanation; your insights have been vital, and I have included them in my research notes. Best!
The contortions of the 'slaves' is the antithesis of the serene posture of Michelangelo's David. I would never have associated these sculptures with the Lacoon if Smarthistory had not put the two photos in juxtaposition.
Nice but, you don’t see any of that on the exhibition. The book in inside a glass case and only Open on a single page. Would have been nice if there was a replica we could flip through…
There is, online. If you visit our website, Smarthistory.org and look at the Book of Kells page there is a link to the entire manuscript at Trinity College.
Wow, what a cinematic, storyteller intro! If you two ever wanna work in VO, there's a place for you both! 🤣❤ I'm surprisingly empathetic to the plight of this fisherman. I know what it's like to have that "successful, contingent on.." day mingled with the coldness / isolation of his plight. It's amazing what you can relate to. No fish, ships, or fog here, but I felt this. I loved hearing you guys describe this. It so added to the drama of this otherwise lovely scene. The painting around 3:46 was unbelievable... The mountains, lake reflecting them, and trees were incredible. Blown away. Who could be so talented?! lol. Really hoping my fisherman friend made it home safely.
I hate the front entrance, but I suppose there must be another one to get larger objects and furnishings into the space. the rest of the house is beautiful. The intentional glass-on-glass is something I would normally instinctually avoid in my own virtual construction in games, but I think i'll try it out on my next opportunity!
Great tour and commentary as always. FLW was influential when I was still in school and now as an architect. The gestures his building creates are so inspiring. PS. The intro and outro music of your videos are so lovely. Please keep them forever :D
